There is a growing need for guidance, operator assist, and autonomous solutions for construction and mining. Thus, the accuracy and reliability of monitoring and controlling operations and/or the machines is becoming more important. A common operation is the spotting and loading of trucks with rotational platforms such as excavators, front shovels, and rope shovels. This includes both the spotting of the trucks as well as the swinging and dumping of the material into the trucks. A key enabling technology for operations such as these is positioning. GNSS, laser, and ranging radios are commonly used in positioning systems; however, each of the methods suffers drawbacks.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0238403 to Brown et al. discloses an assistive vehicular guidance system for locating a spotter vehicle in a target location near a target machine. The guidance system includes global positioning sensors and user interfaces providing visual and/or auditory cues. The guidance system also includes long-range and short-range network radios and an analyzer. The analyzer interfaces with the global positioning sensor to plan a path for the spotter vehicle, and utilizes the long-range and/or short-range network radios for communication between the spotter vehicle and the target machine.
As should be appreciated, there is a continuing need for positioning systems having improved accuracy and/or efficiency. The present disclosure is directed to such an effort.